Category Archives: Israel

This is an actual headline.
(You can read the article on our Facebook page)
This was an actual training.
More on this in a moment…

The Beginning of Birth PainsMathew 24

In the Gospel of Matthew, the disciples are with Jesus and they coming out of the temple and they comment on how amazing this building is…

Jesus then begins talking about end times – The Olivet Discourse.
Discourse means teaching, Olivet because it took place on the Mt of Olives .

Matthew 24

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

The end of the age is the end of the church age which leads directly into the Tribulation period.

Jesus answered:

“Watch out that no one deceives you.

5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.

6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars,

7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

7 There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,

11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,

8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

The “birth” is the Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.The “beginning of these pains are the days leading up to the Tribulation.
The days before the rapture, days the church will see and experience.

Let’s remember the men from the tribe of Issachar…

1 Chronicles 12:32

“From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew what to do…”

Times were changing.
King Saul’s leadership was being transferred to King David.
Each tribe had to answer the questions…
Which leader do we follow?
Where is God leading us?Still GOOD questions to ask.

What is happening in our world?Are you looking BEYOND how the stock market is doing or how home sales and home values are doing?

Most people are NOT.
This concerns me.

Things are happening right in front of us.Do we, do you, understand the times we are living in and do you know WHAT to do?

Let’s talk about the beginning ofbirth pains.The beginning of these pains are the days leading up to the Tribulation.
The days before the rapture, days the church will see and experience.
As with birth pains, the events listed in Matthew 24 will become more frequent and more intense as we get closer to the birth, the Tribulation.

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What is happening in our world?
Most Americans are not following the events happening in our day. This is the main reason for this website – to keep you informed and prepared.
If we are not aware – how can we understand the times we live in and how can we know what to do?

On Monday 1-13-14, the Hamas government in Gaza celebrated the graduation of camps geared at training high-school students “to follow in the footsteps of the suicide martyrs.”

The camps, titled “the pioneers of liberation,” are run by Hamas. Some 13,000 students in grades 10-12 participated.

A Hamas official proclaimed …“Beware of this generation,”

“This is a generation which knows no fear. It is the generation of the missile, the tunnel and the suicide operations.”

The Hamas prime minister added that female trainers were also on staff “to oversee the training of the young women to follow in the footsteps of the female suicide operatives.”

The interior minister said the training was in preparation for the coming war with Israel.

What coming war with Israel?!! (Psalm 83????)

How many people are talking about this!!!!

Could you imagine what would be said if the United States held a training in Los Angeles or Chicago or New York for high school students to train them to be suicide martyrs??!!!!!!Could you imagine such a thing??!!!!

Yet that is exactly what happened – just because it happened half way across the globe does not mean it will not have an impact on U.S. soil.

This was the 2nd year Hamas has held this training. Last year 5,000 students were trained.

Do you understand the day we live in and do you know what to do?

LA Times article from Monday 1-13-14White House strikes “secret side deal” with Iran over nuclear issue

(You can read the article on our Facebook page)

The Los Angeles Times is reporting the existence of a secret 30-page documentthat spells out what Iran can and cannot do with its nuclear program.

The new agreementannounced over the weekend, sets out a timetable for how Iran and the six nations, led by the United States, will implement a deal reached in November (This deal is to begin being implemented as of Monday 1-20-14).

The side agreement is using the English word “nonpaper,” which is a diplomatic term used for an informal side agreement that doesn’t have to be disclosed publicly.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday (1-13-14) that the text of the implementing agreement would be released to lawmakers. He said the six parties were weighing how much of the text they could release publicly.

According to a source the “secret side deal” worked out by the Obama administration:

Not a single Iranian nuclear facility will be shut down

Iran will continue to enrich uranium

Iran’s nuclear research operations will actually expand and

New, state-of-the-art centrifuges will be allowed to come on-line in Iran

We (the U.S. leadership) have agreed with Iran on the use and development of nuclear weapons and the details of that deal do not have to be revealed to the public???!!!

Peace talks in the Middle East…

Let’s go back to July 30, 2013…

In Washington, Israeli and Palestinian leaders had their first peace negotiations in nearly three years. They set a time line of 9 months to reach an agreement.

Fast forward to January 2014, John Kerry is on his 10th trip to the Middle East to continue talks trying to work out a peace agreement.

FYI, the 9 months are up in 3 months (April 2014)

What happens when these efforts fail?Why would I suggest the efforts will fail?

From a Biblical perspective we know they will…

Psalm 122:6 says we are to…Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

Jerusalem won’t have real peace until the Lord returns!

From a theological perspective…Muslim theology has the return of the 12th Imam (also known as the Madi)

He will return in a time of Chaos to bring peace

In Christian doctrine, before the return of Jesus there is an anti-christ.
The anti-christ will come on a platform of peace.
To come on a platform of peace there must be chaos and war.

Since there must be a time of great chaos and war, how can a peace treaty be reached by April 2014?There is a day when peace will come…but we have not reached that point in history, not yet.

If all that is not enough craziness, what about what’s happening in Syria?

Can you believe Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad may be seeking re-election?

Last month (December 2013) a Russian diplomat said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should refrain from statements suggesting he might seek re-election because it could fuel tension before planned peace talks, peace talks that are due to start in Geneva on January 22, 2014.

What has happened in Syria over the last few years?

There’s been a 3 year civil war:

There’s been the use of chemical weapons

Over 100,000 Syrians have been killed (most believe that number is over 130,000)

Creating over 2 million refugees – many of them children. These children are no longer in school. Their residence is temporary (???) and the countries they fled to cannot afford to educate them

Tuesday Jan 7th 2014

Syria’s Information Minister said the Syrian people have decided President Bashar al-Assad should be nominated for another term and would pressure him to stand in elections this year.

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

So in summary:

We have 13,000 teens being trained to be suicide martyrs in Gaza

We have a nuclear deal with Iran, where details are not being made public

We have a leader in Syria leading a civil war wanting to run for re-election

And we have peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians breaking down

We haven’t even touched on what’s happening in Egypt, and in Jordan with King Abdullah, or the news out of Saudi Arabia and their desire to have nuclear weapons. The Saudis did say that they were the ones who financed Pakistan’s nuclear weapons!

On January 2, 2014 the NY Times, USA Today & Israeli Newspapers all reported that “Ariel Sharon’s Condition Has Deteriorated and is Now ‘Life-Threatening” Sharon died on January 11th 2014.

Who is Ariel Sharon? Is this news?

There is a large backstory to this story and the backstory has to do with the return of Jesus.

Before I go there let me give you some background on Ariel Sharon…

He was a military General and later the 11th Prime Minister of Israel (Israel’s Prime Minister is much like a U.S. President).

His military mind was second to none.

He was the kind of guy you either loved or hated – there was little to no middle ground.

Ariel Sharon was 85 years old. He was elected Israel’s 11th prime minister in 2001.

While in office, He suffered a stroke on January 4th 2006 and has been in a coma for the past 8 years.

For eight years, Mr. Sharon has been breathing on his own but fed with a feeding tube. In September of 2013 he underwent surgery to fix the feeding tube.

A year ago, January 2013, scientists announced that during a brain scan they had found surprising activity in response to the voice of his sons and visits of his grandchildren. This raised the question, could this brain activity suggest that Sharon might be able to hear and understand. If so, could there be a possibility that he could actually recover? That was the hope. That was a year ago…

Mr. Sharon was a controversial military commander who rose to hold many of his nation’s top positions. In fact he suffered the stroke at what many believe was the height of his political power.

He was the architect of Israeli settlements in what is called “Palestinian territory”.

Because of his background in the development of these settlements, he stunned the world with a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.

And it was believed he was preparing for further territorial concessions to establish a Palestinian state when he became ill.

Personally, He has been widowed twice. His 1st wife was killed in a car accident driving between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. He is the father of 3 sons.

As for his military background, until his stroke in 2005, modern day Israel had never fought a war where Sharon was not involved. In 1948 when the Israeli army was started , he was a commander. He was a member of Israel’s Paratroopers Brigade.

In 1964, Ariel Sharon was promoted and became the Chief Staff Officer at the Northern Command. At that time Israel was in a conflict with Syria due to Syrian attempts to divert the main tributaries of the Jordan River in order to dry up the Sea of Galilee, which is the main water source of Israel.

A year later he was promoted in rank and became Brigadier General.

In September of 1973, after 25 years of military service, he got out of the military and was beginning to form a new political party. His time away from the military lasted one month. October 5th 1973 was the start of the Yom Kippur War and Sharon was brought back in and placed in command of the southern units.

He eventually crossed over the Suez Canal into Egypt…

“The canal crossing transformed the war from defeat to a victory, and eventually it was the factor that brought about the signing of the first peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

Now for the backstory

Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, was an extremely well respected Rabbi. He died on January 28th 2006.

He was born in Iraq, but lived in the land of Israel before it was officially called Israel.

Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri was known for his photographic memory and his memorization of the Bible, the Talmud, and other Jewish writings.

He knew Jewish sages and celebrities of the last century and rabbis who lived in the Holy Land and kept the faith alive before the State of Israel was born.

Kaduri was not only highly esteemed because of his age of 108, He was charismatic and wise, and chief rabbis looked up to him as a righteous man or saint. He would give advice and blessings to everyone who asked. Thousands visited him to ask for counsel or healing. His followers spoke of many miracles and his students say that he predicted many disasters.

When he died, more than 200,000 people joined the funeral procession on the streets of Jerusalem to pay their respects as he was taken to his final resting place.

His last wish was to wait one year after his death before revealing his final message.

“When he comes, the Messiah will rescue Jerusalem from foreign religions that want to rule the city,” Kaduri once said. “They will not succeed for they will fight against one another.”

Thursday October 13, 2005 was Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement. On the Jewish calendar – this is the Holiest day of the year .

On the evening before Yom Kippur a 25 hour period of fasting and prayer begins.

On Yom Kippur, Synagogue attendance is mandatory. Rabbi Kaduri had a congregation and that evening, they came to hear him speak.

Women were dressed in white signifying purity and not a person wore any items made of gold – which was an unholy reminder of the sins associated with the golden calf constructed at the base of Mt. Sinai.

Instead of speaking, Rabbi Kaduri, bowed his head and lightly mumbled, meditated, to himself. He stayed in this meditation position for 45 minutes.

Then, after 45 minutes, he lifted his head and announced “I have met the Messiah”.

Obviously this caused quite a stir in the synagogue. Raising his right hand and asking for silence, then he spoke again…

“He shall appear soon”“You must be ready for His coming”“Many events of awe will take place before his coming… But they will happen quickly”

Then he delivered the unbelievable statement that “He (the Messiah) will not present himself until after the death of our prime minister, Ariel Sharon. (This was 2005 and Sharon was healthy!)

The Messiah will not come until after the death of Ariel Sharon?!

Kaduri later said that he had discovered that Jesus is the Messiah in November 2003 but did not say anything publically until Yom Kippur 2005.

Here’s a quick review of the timeline;

October 13, 2005 – Kaduri announced to his congregation he had met the Messiah, stating that His return will not happened until after the death of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

January 4, 2006 Ariel Sharon suffers a stroke and goes into a coma

January 28, 2006 Rabbi Kaduri, at age 108, dies from complications of pneumonia

Early 2007 – Rabbi’s handwritten note is open and read – revealing the name of the Messiah – he wrote that Jesus is the Messiah

January 2, 2014 Sharon is in critical life threatening condition

January 11, 2014 Ariel Sharon dies at age 85.

What do you make of all this?
Did this highly respected Rabbi have an encounter with Jesus?
Is this a modern day “Paul on the road to Damascus” experience?
Will Jews be drawn to Jesus because of this Rabbi’s vision/words?

We no longer have plans to bomb Syria.
For the first time since 1979, our president has welcomed conversations with Iran.
What we were concerned about a few weeks ago has seemed to pass by and now we have new concerns. Our government has shut down. What does this mean to our near future?

Here’s a warning… Don’t let the current situation within our government cause you to take your eyes off the Middle East and especially Syria.

Let’s not forget that from this civil war there are over 100,000 dead in Syria.
There are over 2.5 million refugees (mostly women and children).
Another 5 million have been displaced from their homes but haven’t left the country.
Syria’s population before all this was only 22 million.

As for Damascus, the capital has a population of 1.6 million.
Along with Jericho, it is considered the oldest continuously inhabited city and it is the oldest capitol city.

The headlines may not be saying much about Syria but Scripture does.

WHAT does the Bible say about the future of Damascus?

First of all let’s make sure we see Scripture in context.

Isaiah chapters 11-24 (in context) explain about end times, something that is still future, still yet to come. These chapters deal with topics such as…

The coming of the Messiah

Judging of Gentile nations (enemies of Israel)

The millennial reign of Jesus

Isaiah 11:6-8 is a picture ofthe Millennium

“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.”

Isaiah 13-24The prophet speaks directly to the future of Gentile nations.
It deals in detail with the coming judgment and destruction of these nations…
Bible names and MODERN day names

Babylon (IRAQ)

The Philistines (Gaza) (Hamas)

Moab (Jordon)

Cush (Ethiopia) (North Africa)

Egypt

Edom (Jordan)

Arabia

Tyre (Lebanon) (Hezbollah)

In the middle of chapters 13 -24 is chapter 17 and God’s dealing with Damascus.

Isaiah 17: 1

“A prophecy against Damascus: “See, Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.”

Vs 2 – explains that the city will be unlivable

Some critics say:

This was fulfilled when the Assyrians conquered that area in 732 B.C.

They went on to conquer Israel and the Northern part of Israel fell in 722 B.C.

The 10 tribes of Israel were lost and mixed in with the Assyrians

Damascus was NOT completely destroyed the way Isaiah 17:1 describes.
Obviously the city is still lived in today.

So what is the proper response to those who say Isaiah 17 has already been fulfilled and is NOT yet future?

Again remember, Isaiah 11-24 – IN CONTEXT – explains the Day of the Lord.

Isaiah himself provides the answer to the question whether his prophecy is past or yet to come.

In chapter 14 the prophet tells us WHEN he received this prophecy about Damascus…

Isaiah 14:28

“This prophecy came in the year King Ahaz died:”

King Ahaz died in 715 B.C.

Remember – The Assyrians went through Damascus in 732 B.C (2 Kings 16) 17 years earlier! So Isaiah 17 COULD NOT be talking about the events of 732 B.C.

What happened in 732 B.C. is in Scripture but it is found in Isaiah 7 & 8. These chapters explain that Assyria was the Lord’s instrument.

Isaiah 8:4 “the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

THAT did happen in 732 & 722 B.C.!!!!

Isaiah 17 is still future!

A parallel passage is Jeremiah 48-51 – Jeremiah writes about:

Moab – Ammon – Edom (Jordan)

Damascus

Kedar and Hazor which is modern day Arabia

Elam modern day IRAN

Babylon Modern DayIRAQ

Timing: Jeremiah’s ministry was between 626 & 586 B.C.

This is 150 years AFTER the Assyrians went through Damascus and Israel.

Jeremiah 49:24

“Damascus has become feeble, she has turned to flee
and panic has gripped her; anguish and pain have seized her,
pain like that of a woman in labor.”

Labor pains is what Jesus spoke of…

Matthew 24:6-8

“7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

Here is a future picture …

Jeremiah 49:26

26 Surely, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,” declares the Lord Almighty.27 “I will set fire to the walls of Damascus; it will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad.”

Damascus will be destroyed with fire

Her soldiers will be silenced

Her young men will fall in the streets

Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins.”

Isaiah 17:4

“In that day the glory of Jacob will fade; the fat of his body will waste away.”

“the glory of Jacob” is Israel.

Isaiah 17 …

This is a picture of war and destruction.

What could happen?
Israel “the glory of Jacob” is attacked.
They fire back (with nukes?) fulfilling Isaiah 17?

For the first time in his presidency, President Obama recently went to Israel. For weeks before his trip we were told that there wouldn’t be any talk of forcing Israel into a two state solution and there would be just limited attempts to restart peace talks.

The ISSUES and the purpose of this trip was to deal with:

Iran and nuclear weapons and Netanyahu’s “red line”

Syria and the threat of biological and chemical weapons

What will be the outcome, the fruit of this visit? We probably won’t really know for several weeks. I will do a follow up as we see how this all plays out. However there is a red flag, a warning to what could transpire from this trip. Our leadership could eventually take, desire, maybe even ask for, undue honor. What is “undue honor”? Taking credit for what God is doing!

Here’s a biblical example…

Acts 14:8-10

“In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth and had never walked. 9 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10 and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.”

Notice Paul didn’t say “In Jesus name”? Why not?

Jesus was already present. Paul saw Jesus in this man’s eyes!

What happens?

Acts 14:11-13

“When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.”

The temptation Paul & Barnabas faced was to receive this praise being offered them. HOWEVER – look at how Paul and Barnabas responded…

Acts 14:14-15

“they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting:15 “Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.”

After this event, Paul is stoned and left for dead.

In other cities he had been plotted against, persecuted, abandoned, attacked…

In all those occasions, Paul just picked himself up and moved on.

Here however, he tears his clothing and shouts out against their actions. Why such a strong reaction to what the people in Lystra were doing versus what people in other cities did?

Because what the people in Lystra were trying to do was to bring “undue honor” onto Paul and he was not about to take credit for what God had done and was doing!

Here’s the danger with President Obama’s 1st trip to Israel: our leadership taking credit for what God is doing and is going to allow to happen in the Middle East.

How close is Iran to nuclear weapons? Do they already have them?
Is Israel going to strike Iran?
Where does Syria play in all of this?
Is their leadership going to fall?
How many more deaths will that civil war cause?
Where do countries like Jordan end up in all this?
What about Egypt and its leadership which is taking a stance against Israel?

Our president and American leadership will be somewhat involved in all of this. My only hope is that they do so with humble hearts and do not expect or receive “Undue Honor” for what God is doing.

Family Food Storage

In struggling financial times and global uncertainty many experts advise being prepared to feed your family in times of need. It is wise to have food put away and to rotate that supply as your budget allows. The following links are brochures designed to help with the process of starting a food pantry for your family that will last you for 6 months. It is arranged in such a way that you can purchase a little bit of everything in smaller increments. Prices are from February 2012 from your local Costco or Smart & Final.